Growing Up Together
by aedy
Summary: A series of oneshot that take place in the universe of my fic "Frozen". Finn, Kurt and Puck meet when they are kids and they grow up together.
1. When Finn Met Kurt

**Characters**: Kurt Hummel, Noah Puckerman, Finn Hudson.

**A/N: These little oneshots are a sort of prequel to my story "Frozen". The first ones are just about Puck, Kurt and Finn as kids but they will keep going until Finn and Kurt are together and then they will be about how Kurt and Puck got together in New York and a little bit of their life with Rachel. They were all born in 1994 like on the show, so in this one that takes place in 2001 they are seven. **

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><p><strong>2001 <strong>

The sun was shining brightly the first time Finn met Kurt. It was summer and Carole made him go to the park so he could meet with Puck, a friend from the soccer team.

When Finn got to the monkey bars where Puck was supposed to be waiting, he saw another boy there with his friend. The kid's hair was perfectly styled and he wore a bow tie over a pale blue shirt and jeans that emphasized his bony legs. The first thought that crossed Finn's mind was that the boy looked pretty in a way he never thought a boy could.

Before Finn had the time to wonder whether it was okay to find another boy pretty or not, Puck called Finn's name while waving his arms animatedly to catch his attention.

"Finn! Finn!" Puck jumped down from the monkey bars landing on his feet a bit clumsily.

"Hey Puck." Finn smiled in greeting but he found it hard to stop his eyes from diverting to the pretty kid who was staring at him from where he was perched on the monkey bars.

When Puck noticed Finn staring at his friend he smiled brightly and said, "Come down, Kurt!"

Kurt swung his legs a few times before jumping down landing without the clumsiness that had followed Puck in that same movement. As soon as he was on the ground, Puck slid his arm around his shoulders and looked at Finn as if he were showing the fastest car of his collection or the newest video game. "This annoying kid is Kurt, my best friend."

Kurt rolled his eyes and pushed Puck away before swiping his bangs back into place. "You're so rude, Noah," Kurt told him and Finn still didn't know Puck really well but he knew him enough to know that if another kid called him Noah or rude, he would have gotten punched.

"I'm Kurt Hummel."

Finn looked between the extended hand and Kurt's bright blue eyes and thought that he could feel the sunlight being warmer against his skin making his blond bangs stick to his forehead. His hand was sweaty when he shook Kurt's but he got a smile in return and an offer to play with him against Puck and Finn felt really happy like when his mother bought him Lucky Charms.

After that afternoon it became routine for them to meet at the park every weekend while Carole hang out with Mrs. Puckerman and Mrs. Hummel. Finn thought that he couldn't have better friends than Puck and Kurt and he even got a father out of it, or as close to a father as he could get, because once they finished their homework, Mr. Hummel let them help fix cars in his garage. He also learned that Puck was the only one that was allowed to ruffle Kurt's hair while they played but he was the one who spent every Monday with Kurt to teach him how to play the drums. At seven, Finn was sure that he was the luckiest kid on the planet.


	2. Blood Brother Oath

**2005**

"This is disgusting," Kurt says for the tenth time.

Finn, Puck and Kurt are up in Kurt's tree house sitting in a circle with a bucket in the middle and a few candles scattered around so they can see what they're doing. They are supposed to be down in the living room watching _The Lion King_, but while Burt was busy trying to make dinner, they sneaked out so they could make the Blood Brother Oath.

Burt didn't build the tree house for winter nights, so there's cold air coming in from all the draughts and blowing the flames of the candles. Kurt is sitting as close to Puck as possible trying to soak up some heat.

Puck slides an arm around Kurt's shoulders and rolls his eyes. "Don't be such a girl."

"Shut up!"

"It's just a drop of blood," Finn reassures him, his usual lopsided grin firmly in place. "It's to say that we are like brothers and that nothing will ever come between us."

Kurt scrunches up his nose and repeats, "It's still disgusting."

Puck takes the small knife his father left him before leaving, from the pocket of his jacket and hands it to Kurt. "Go first, okay?"

Kurt looks a few times between the knife and Puck's face still feeling uncertain but when Puck's lips curve into a challenging smile, he straightens his back and grabs it. It hurts even though the small cut across his thumb it's not very deep and he bites his lower lip and doesn't look up until he's sure he won't cry. He gives the knife back to Puck who cuts himself without looking away from his best friend's eyes and Kurt feels himself blushing without even really knowing why.

Finn takes the knife from Puck's hand and cuts his thumb, letting a few drops of his blood fall down over the scrunched up newspaper in the bucket. "Are you ready guys?" he asks and at his friends' nods, he adds, "We swear to never let anything come between us and be friends forever." Then he lights up a match and throws it in the bucket.

They sit in silence, watching the flames quickly consume the newspaper. The moment feels important until Puck stands up, grabs Kurt's hands and hauls him to his feet saying, "C'mon, let's get inside. I'm freezing my butt off here."

They blow off all the candles and quickly get down from the tree house, their hurried steps making the freezing grass crackle under their shoes. They get inside trying to make as little noise as possible but Burt is already there with his arms crossed and a stern look on his face.

"Where have you been? Dinner was ready twenty minutes ago."

The kids look at each other trying to find an excuse but in the end Kurt simply smiles at his father and gives him a hug. "It smells delicious dad, what is it?"

Burt rolls his eyes because it's not like he doesn't know his own son but he decides to let it go because Kurt is smiling big and brightly like Burt never thought he would again after Kurt's mother died. He looks at Puck and Finn who are smiling as well trying to look innocent and Burt owes those kids too much to get really angry at them.

"Remember to warn me next time you go out," he ends up saying before telling them to go wash their hands.


	3. When Kurt Met Puck

**2000**

When Kurt talks with his dad he always says that he doesn't have lots of friends, but when he's speaking with his mom he says that he doesn't have any. The girls don't want to have a boy friend and the other boys don't want to play with him because he doesn't like cars and G.I. Joe's. He tells to his grandpa on the phone that he loves school and he does, but just because he gets to learn all sort of things not because it's funny.

"I want a friend," he tells his mom one day. He's sitting on his stool in the backyard watching his mother take care of her little garden.

"You will have lots of friends, sweetheart." Karen looks at her son with a bright smile, her light brown hair styled into a ponytail and her blue eyes sparkling like Kurt's do sometimes.

"But I want one now." Kurt kicks his little legs and frowns up at the sky.

Karen brushes her hands on her jeans and stands up walking over to her son. She crouches down in front of him and, with determination, says, "It's only been two weeks, Kurt, sometimes we need a little time to make friends and when you do, yours will be the greatest friends ever."

Kurt looks at her with uncertainty trying to understand if she really means it. He ends up asking, "Are you sure, mommy?"

"One hundred percent, kid." She presses a finger to Kurt's nose smearing it with dirt and gets him to giggle.

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><p>By the end of October Kurt still has to make friends but he's starting to get used to it. At school he doesn't talk with anyone but when he gets back home, he spends time helping his mom with her garden or learning how to make biscuits and Burt says that once he's a little bit older, he will go with him to the garage and learn how to fix cars. Sometimes he feels lonely but he has his parents and that's enough.<p>

Things change in January when the Puckerman family move to Lima and Noah Puckerman starts to attend school with Kurt. He's not really friendly and he's the new kid so the older boys pick up on him but after he manages to push one of the biggest kids, they stop and Noah becomes just someone else without friends.

"I'm Kurt Hummel."

Noah looks up from his drawing and just stares at the kid standing in front of him thinking that no one should dress like that at six. "I'm Puck."

"That's not a name."

"It's my name." Noah goes back to his drawing and waits for the kid to leave but it doesn't happen.

Kurt crosses his arms over the desk and leans his chin over them. "What's your real name?"

Noah sighs heavily and looks back up. "It's Noah. Noah Puckerman."

Kurt smiles brightly grabbing Noah's hand. "Nice to meet you Noah."

At first Kurt follows Noah wherever he goes and they're not really friends because Puck keeps telling him to stop following him around but two weeks later, Kurt goes back home and Karen asks him if he has any new friend and Kurt simply answers, "I've got Noah, mom."


	4. Of Teas Parties and Camping

**2003**

Finn is trying not to laugh while Kurt hands a little pink cup to Puck and tells him to take little sips and remember to hold his pinky finger out.

"This is the right way, Noah, look." Kurt is smiling brightly while he shows to his friends how to drink tea. It's Sunday and they're sitting in Kurt's backyard, around a little table full of plastic cakes and little pink cups.

"Why do I have to hold my finger like that, Kurt? It's stupid."

"No it's not."

Finn looks between Kurt and Puck and can't help but notice that no matter how many times Puck protests, he still holds out his pinky finger and pretends to take little sips from his cup. It's still a little amazing for Finn that this is the same boy that at soccer practice pushes and tackles everyone, it's like Kurt gets to see a different person but Finn doesn't mind because now that he's part of their club, he has lots of blackmail material on Puck.

"That's good, Noah," Kurt encourages Puck before handing him a little fake cake. He's sitting with his back straight and his legs crossed, and he's wearing one of his bow ties and that smile that it's only there when Puck is around.

Puck scrunches up his nose and puts down the little cake and Finn can't help but laugh because if it was anyone else, Puck would have already walked away, but it's Kurt so no matter how silly they look, they will still do everything they're asked.

"When can we play with our bikes?" Puck asks, frowning down at the ground.

"I think we've had enough tea," Kurt says standing up. He knows that Puck will play all the games he wants, be that tea parties or Happy Family, so sometimes, he gives in and does what Puck wants, it's only fair after all. He looks at Finn and says, "Did you bring your bike?"

"Sure."

"Then we could go down to the river." Kurt grabs Puck's hands and pulls him up to his feet. "C'mon, stop moping."

"I'm not moping."

Kurt just rolls his eyes and starts to pull him towards the backdoor that leads to the kitchen, Finn walking besides them.

"Hey kids," Burt greets them when they walk inside. He takes one look at Noah, at the way he's pouting under his curly hair, and laughs. "How was the tea party?"

"Noah finally learned how to hold out his pinky," Kurt tells him brightly, his hand entwined with Puck's.

Burt has seen them playing together for years now, he has seen how Noah lets Kurt drag him everywhere and still remembers that afternoon that Kurt had announced that he and Noah were married, had three kids and a dog and that Noah was now Mrs. Hummel. He's pretty sure that he will see Noah around the house for the rest of their lives. "That's good, kid," he tells Kurt and then asks, "Where are you three going?"

"Down to the river, Mr. Hummel."

Burt can see Finn looking at Kurt like Noah does, he wonders if they are still too young to notice, he wonders when that will become a problem. He thought that Noah and Kurt were always going to be that, but one day Kurt came back home saying that he had a new friend and now it's always Noah, Kurt and Finn. He's just happy that his son has such great friends.

"Get back before it gets dark outside, alright? And you guys can sleep over if your mothers agree."

Puck mumbles something about being happy to be away from his crying sister and Finn simply asks if he can call his mom. A few minutes later, he watches from the door while the three kids get on their bikes and head down the street.

They get back a little after sunset, all covered in dirt and still laughing about Kurt screaming when a frog jumped on him. Burt sends them to wash up and then feeds them enough food that as soon as they get up from the table, they are already sleepy.

Burt gets the three sleeping bags that he has bought the previous summer and pushes the couch against the wall while Puck and Finn set up their tent in the middle of the living room. He watches them get ready for bed and crawl inside their sleeping bags and then he switches off the lights and waits for Kurt to turn up his torch. He stays there for a moment watching the three shadows inside the tent.

"Who tells the first story?" Kurt asks in a whisper.

The torch gets pulled out of his hands and then Noah's voice says, "This is really, really scary. It's a real story."

Burt smiles and heads up to his room while Noah starts his tell about an old man living in the woods.


	5. Say That You Like Me Back

**2010**

For the first time in a very long time Puck wasn't over at Kurt's for their Friday Movie Night; in fact, Finn was sure that Puck had never missed one before. He kept glancing between the television and Kurt every few seconds feeling himself starting to get nervous.

"Are you okay?"

When he focused on Kurt, he found the boy staring at him with a raised eyebrow.

"Finn?"

"I... I was just wondering where Puck was."

Kurt's brow knitted into a frown and he looked away from Finn glaring down at the coffee table. Then, as if catching what he was doing, he replaced his expression of displeasure with one of indifference. "He couldn't make it," he said, and then added bitterly, "He's probably out with one of his cheerleaders."

Finn pretended not to notice the vicious grip Kurt had around the remote control. He thought back to a few days earlier when he and Puck were crossing the parking lot after football practice. They were heading for Puck's truck when, out of the blue, Puck asked, "How long have you liked him?"

And Finn didn't even pretend to not know what his friend was talking about. He looked at Puck but found the other boy glaring at the ground. "Since I met him," He replied honestly. At first he had been sure that he just liked Kurt more because he was his closest friend, but growing up it became easier to see the truth. When his friends talked about liking girls, he could only think about Kurt. Now that they were all sixteen, it wasn't particularly hard to figure out that he had a crush on his best friend... A crush that had been going on for the last nine years.

"I never noticed until last week," Puck commented. He darted a quick glance at Finn before turning around and staring off into the distance. "You kept staring at him while we were at the cinema." There was a pause and then Puck stopped walking and got in front of Finn to block him. "I thought you were straight," he accused and the irony of the situation wasn't lost on him.

Finn snorted moving around Puck and kept walking towards the truck. "Look who's talking. You never noticed I liked him because you were too busy staring at him." They took a few steps in silence before Finn put a hand on his forearm to stop him and asked, "Why didn't you ever tell him?"

"C'mon Finn, why would he go for someone like me?" Puck shrugged off Finn's hold and started walking again.

"Aren't you ever going to try talk to him?"

Puck glanced at him from over his shoulder and nodded. "I will, I just don't know when."

Finn felt jealousy twist his guts and it was so sudden that he was surprised. He had always known that Puck loved Kurt, he had figured out his friend's feelings long before his own, but the thought of Puck actually acting on those feelings changed everything. He felt as if they were playing a football match and time was running out and suddenly, the jealousy left its place to fear.

"Finn, are you sure you're alright?" Kurt's question pulled him out of his thoughts.

He looked into the concerned face of his best friend took a deep breath. "I need to talk to you." The words were out before he had time to think about what he was doing or what it was going to happen afterwards. He guessed that he was going to be honest with Kurt and then leave the choice up to him. He could say that he wasn't interested and it would have been hard but Finn was sure that sooner or later they could have gone back to being friends, but he needed to know.

Kurt nodded looking somewhat uncertain and then turned off the TV. "What's wrong?"

Finn got up from his armchair and sat down next to Kurt. "I... I like you." His voice came out in a whisper and he saw Kurt's eyes widening.

How the boy had never noticed his or Puck's attention was beyond him.

"What..."

"I'm not talking about liking you as a friend but like Sandy liked Danny and..." He couldn't believe he was actually saying that but he was nervous like never before in his life and he managed to get Kurt to smile so he thought he wasn't doing so bad. He scooted closer on the couch and put his hands on Kurt's cheeks.

When Kurt didn't move away, didn't try to stop him, Finn gently closed the distance between them. Their lips barely brushed together before he was pulling back searching Kurt's face for a sign that he had screwed everything up. But Kurt licked his lips slowly and looked up at Finn for a moment before raising his hands to Finn's shoulders and just squeeze.

Finn didn't think about the consequences before kissing Kurt again. After all, he told himself, if Kurt was kissing him back it meant that he liked him, right? And that wasn't his fault and it had nothing to do with Puck.

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><p>The next day at school he was the one who told Puck. He talked quickly and went straight to the point saying that he had kissed Kurt and that now they were together. He pretended not to notice the way Puck's back stiffened or how fake his smile was when he said, "It's okay. And hey, at least it's not some loser we have to scare away."<p>

Puck patted him on the shoulder and then mumbled something about Santana Lopez being somewhere waiting for him before dashing away.

Later that day they told Burt and Finn tried to ignore how surprised Mr. Hummel looked or how he kept asking, "With Finn?"


End file.
